ELI5-What is entropy?
In: 1763
Here is a simple way to understand it. If you have a pair of dice, there are six combinations that give a total roll of seven, but only one combination gives a twelve. If you imagine that you can only observe the sum of the two dice and not the numbers on the individual dice, you have a nice approximation of macrostates, which are observable, and microstates, which contain hidden information that, together, nonetheless are ultimately responsible for the observation you make. Entropy in thermodynamics is kind of a measure of hidden information. The total roll is the macrostate, the numbers on the individual dice are microstates. Seven has the highest entropy, since a roll of seven doesn’t tell you as much about the individual dice, two and twelve have the lowest entropy, since these configurations are very informative about the individual dice.
Latest Answers